Smoking-ban petition by Langley mom to be submitted to legislature in February

Naomi Baker had been fighting a two-year battle to stop second-hand smoke from infiltrating her third-floor apartment. It was the birth of her baby girl, Faith, now seven months, that prompted Baker to launch the petition in August.

“The baby was the final straw,” said Baker, who recalls coming home from hospital after giving birth to an apartment smelling like an ashtray. “Maybe if it was just me and my husband, we’ll put up with it. But we’re not doing this to her. She has done nothing to be poisoned every day of her life.”

The petition calls on Selina Robinson, the minister of municipal affairs and housing, to ban smoking, including marijuana smoke, in multi-unit dwellings.

Baker said her MLA, Mary Polak, has agreed to sponsor and present a paper-based petition, which has received about 700 signatures so far, to the legislature in February or March. Read more...